1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manual-wind camera provided with a wind lever which is manually operated to wind the film frame by frame.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manual-wind cameras using roll-film bearing no sprocket holes such as Brownie film (e.g., 120 or 220 format film) and having a film winding mechanism provided with a wind lever (i.e., thumb-operated lever) which is manually operated to wind the film frame by frame are known.
In this type of manual-wind camera, the following operations are performed by the user when a roll-film is loaded in the camera: firstly a roll-film is placed in the film chamber with the rear cover open; secondly the film end is placed on the take-up spool; thirdly the wind lever is turned several times to wind the film on the take-up spool until mark (start mark) printed on the backing paper of the film reaches the reference marking formed on the camera body; fourthly the rear cover is closed; and lastly the wind lever is turned a predetermined number of times to position the first frame over the photographic aperture.
Such conventional manual-wind cameras require a dummy roll-film to be loaded when performing a shutter test in which the shutter is released without exposing an image onto film. In this case, firstly the dummy film is placed in the film chamber with the rear cover open, secondly the rear cover is closed, and thirdly the wind lever is turned before the shutter is released by depressing the release button. Other cameras of this type are provided with a mechanism which makes it possible to perform the shutter test without using the dummy film. In this case, the shutter test is performed after a predetermined operation is performed.
However, in the former case, it is necessary to use a dummy film each time the shutter test is performed, which is troublesome. In the latter case, a predetermined operation needs to be performed each time the shutter test is performed, which is also troublesome.
Hence, it is preferable that the shutter test can be performed without the dummy film loaded in the camera. In such a case, it is preferable that the camera automatically determines whether the film has been loaded.